Well, actually McCain is the enemy, but complacency is a close second.

There's nothing more foolish on politics than leaving something to chance. That's one of the reasons why I find Obama so very impressive. He's disciplined and focused, and his example permeates downward through his campaign. Everything on record indicates that he has been the primary mover in his campaign, and it's clear that his skills as an executive and as a tactician are superb.

And so I suggest that he's right, that the worst thing that voters and volunteers can do is presume victory. This is a sport in which everyone plays until the whistle blows (and some of our opponent's efforts seem to be designed to force overtime, thanks to Accorn's unbelievably deficient QA processes. They don't have an excuse...they knew the spotlight was going to shine on them and they still provided an opportunity for the Republicans to fsck with them. Sad.).

I read on a couple of other sites that Obama's internal polling is showing the race a lot closer than what is being potrayed in the media. Not sure if it is true or not but it might explain why Obama has brought up the overconfidence/New Hampshire issue a couple of times today.

the laziness of the media in reporting any news that may
discomfort in the case of Obama.

I've watched the polls go from 9-11 points average
in favor of Obama, to 3.8 - 5 points average this last week, with about 7 points Undecided (and those people tend to be conservative by nature) WHILE the media keeps saying that there was no impact in the campaigning strategies of the last two weeks.

I do disregard the outlier newspaper and tv polls which I've mentioned before because they always poll in favor of Obama by about 10 points more than the others. That is no accident. It's the audience they have and which they poll and a certain bias.

There IS an effect even with negative ads, and Obama knows this too, which is why his ads are about 30% negative -- and since he is outspending McCain 3-1 in ads, they're doing about the same number of mainstream-seen negative ads. For a reason.

And so the Gallup poll today just continues a trend it had noted was a creeping one.

Obama is absolutely right. The enemy of a victory in November is any kind of lazy arrogance, sitting back and thinking it is 'eventual' and 'done' -- he hasn't forgotten that poll leads of 10 to 20 for him in the primaries were followed by losses. Sitting happily on current polling at anytime is just self-defeating. It speaks of Obama-rooting of a kind that leaves me speechless, which is good for most on this site -- mostly because it can assume that EVERYone feels the way most here do. A certain crowd watches debates. Americans are so diverse that we need to be aware that those not interested in focusing on politics or even in seeing the debates as games as so many do ('win' 'lose') will not be watching but are voting based on other things.

The only way is to increase Dem margins as much as is possible and, most of all, to get out the vote -- though not by means that could be perceived as too pushy by those you are hoping to get to the polls.

The one poison that can be taken is to proclaim that "It's over." I was glad to see Obama driving this home and the seriousness of it to his crowds who don't always understand that the extent of their enthusiasm is not that of others and that the most important item on Nov 4 is actually getting to the polls (or having mailed your ballot on time).

as I read it, with the rule that unverified voters have to use provisional ballots, which aren't counted until after the election, after verification, that Ohio can't be called on election night. And if it comes down to needing Ohio, imagine the mess.

If the polls are to be believed, it won't come down to needing Ohio. But that's a big if.